Soul of Searing Steel

In the beginning, there were almost no signs.

In a place where none expected, something suddenly appeared, self-replicating and gradually spreading beyond.

From simple to complex, from mild to hostile, from harmless to lethal…

It continued to spread away, reaching out and breeding in ever elaborate and clever ways, consuming all that existed in the world, in the name of their own continuity.

The first time that the Mycroftians were made aware of that unusual plague—the Ultimate Virus—was from feedback and information provided by some adventuring parties and the Starherders who roamed the Multiverse. It appeared that some Void civilizations had implemented bizarre national lockdown policies, while other indigenous civilizations that had yet to reach into the Void displayed extremely abnormal signs of extinction.

It happened months after Joshua left.

After the Assembly where the Mycroft civilization engaged with a host of other Void civilizations, they had ceased their expansion efforts due to their lacking core population, refraining from conquering new colonies and domains although exploration and adventure operations were not put on hold.

With official support, many former Expeditionary members switched jobs as Void adventurers, surveying the boundless Multiverse. There was also no lack of civilian explorers interested in seeing a greater world either, who hence assumed the journey afar.

Needless to say, the Starherders who originally roamed the stars were separated into a few detachments with Mycroft's official approval, some of them gaining considerable freedom to farm the Multiverse without being restrained to a single spot.

Hence, from the Stargates and Dimensional Hubs that the Mycroft civilization had distributed across the Multiverse, the adventurers' trail had covered significant distances. After all, they had not departed only in recent months, but in the last two years when the Mycroft civilization first commenced foreign subjugation. With the complex teleportation network of various other civilizations and a comprehensively upgraded Void engine and warp systems, even the weakest adventurer parties could cover a considerable span of the Multiverse in those years.

On the other hand, the most luxuriously equipped official exploration teams could cover immeasurable distance in the shortest period with help from the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds, teleporting to any place with a beacon.

Indeed, it was the explorers most strongly linked to the Combined Government who had discovered the anomalies in the foreign stars and warned them that Pestilence was not far.

"This is…the Kagan galaxy…We've discovered remains of the Ultimate Virus…the one Commander Radcliffe had mentioned…amongst fringe indigenous civilizations…"

"Yes…half the planet's population has all died out…neither beast nor bacterium was spared…it's a land of the dead, and if not for some intelligent lives on deserts and poles, the entire planet would've become a wasteland without life…"

"The Ultimate Virus is gone…it had appeared only for a short time…but there appears to be another evolved super bacterium wreaking havoc…we've transmitted data and samples of the cells to the Unified Archives…it's definitely not natural evolved..."

"…the infected would become unkillable zombies… maintaining motor functions by devouring organic matter…Silver ability…extremely dangerous…highest vigilance!"

The communications from across galaxies were remarkably distorted and delayed even with the help of the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds, making a certain degree of latency and message loss unavoidable. Still, a party surveying the Kagan galaxy managed to transmit unexpectedly complete and vital information: the reality that the Ultimate Virus had begun spreading out of the Galaxy of Bloodbath.

When Elma and Creed encountered it in that galaxy for the first time, after of which Joshua relayed that information to Mycroft headquarters, not many had actually taken notice. After all, the ones plagued were the Amos Court and Takur Ruin Cult—every other civilization would laugh and watch the show unfold, regardless of the threat or calamity those two xenophobic Calamities were to face.

Moreover, a great distance separated the Galaxy of Bloodbath from the nearest Mycroftian colony. It would not have been too late for precautions when the epidemic spread nearer, since it was nothing but a plague. How could it have crossed the extended Void to directly affect the lands of a distant civilization? Or so most had thought.

Still, it was suspicious that the explorers had discovered such intricacies about the Ultimate Virus.

First and foremost, the Ultimate Virus was highly contagious and lethal, stubbornly strong and able to survive the Void—but on the planet where its remains were found, it had all died off, even leaving some intelligent lives who barely hung on in the isolation of deserts and glaciers. There, the Ultimate Virus was replaced by a super bacterium that paled in comparison, but showed distinct signs of being strengthened by it, killing all remaining intelligent life.

It was as contradictory as it was explainable: The Ultimate Virus had a short lifespan in the first place, and that was why it would vanish before it could kill every creature on the planet. Furthermore, it also revealed another fact—it infected not only complex lifeforms, but also bacteria.

And that message was just the beginning.

Soon, more and more information of the epidemic spread, reaching Mycroft from every corner of the Multiverse.

The Kagan galaxy, the Duya galaxy, the Mosso galaxy, the Asinko galaxy… the same horrific supervirus virtually appeared in each different planetary region at the same time, showing neither symptoms nor origins to probe. In the same moment in the same Multiverse, the Ultimate Virus would plague two civilizations, even if half the Multiverse separated them.

It was simply illogical.

The explorers could not explain it either and panicked internally. If the epidemic could appear out of thin air to infect the world of Mycroft, would they be the sinners who brought about its fall? Taking that into consideration, most of the explorers no longer contacted the Mycroft civilization—until that one day came when one of the exploration teams uncovered the possible truth about that virus.

"There's no carrier!"

Across the faraway dimensions and the profound power of the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds bridging two realms, the leader of an exploration team's hoarse voice conveyed great bewilderment. Wearing a full hazmat suit and unable to explain the phenomenon he had discovered, he said, "The plague… the virus appears out of thin air!"

"The plague had not appeared when we came to the world. Seven Gods… we have incidentally observed the coming of the virus, and its spread upon a world!"

"It's… like a natural coincidence—that's right, a coincidence! That virus had simply and naturally assumed form in empty lands, appearing in jungles and infecting the fauna. That form would have rapidly grown and conformed to the local environment, eventually becoming the terrible Ultimate Virus that consumes every last bit of human flesh without even leaving the soul alone!"

"We have now escaped the world, but the surveillance spells left behind show that the plague is still raging across the continent without sparing the oceans either…it appears out of thin air, and it has no carrier!"

***

In the conference halls of the Mycroft civilization's Stargate base in the Zeta Ram system, an aged voice was calmly repeating observation records in the solemn hall.

"…it first erodes flesh and blood, and grows rapidly by consuming the energy stored in the host lifeform. Over 99% of host would not survive that process due to a lack of energy reserves, and the excessive evolution would crumble their essence and kill them, while their flesh and soul would be emptied. However, there is still a chance of successful evolution—that is, one out of ten billion, if it was a mortal provided with substantial energy, darting at once to Supreme tier."

"By the same principle, Silver and Gold would have one out of three billion and one out of a billion chance to ascend to Supreme-advanced respectively—in other words breaking through their limits as a lifeform and then strengthened again to reach the doorway of Legend. For Supremes who are aptly prepared, they would have a one in ten million chance, and he—or it—would use the power of the virus to ascend as a special Legend. Still, the superior being would become a completely different lifeform even if it survived, only possessing the same memories."

"Death of the New—that's how I would describe the growth of the Ultimate Virus, for even after surviving the profound refinement like a newborn, the original lifeform would die, leaving a monster that simply inherits its memories."

"That's the Ultimate Virus. Everyone, what do you think about the discovery of the Haig Party and the other teams in foreign galaxies?"

Igor, Barbarossa, Barnil, William, the Nature's Magister and the other Legends had all gathered in one place, either personally or through clones and projections, to discuss how they should face the mysterious epidemic.

"It's bizarre, but only such a method of transmission could explain how the plague simultaneously infects two different civilizations on two different sides of the Multiverse."

Naturally, Igor, Pope of the Seven Gods Church and the host of the council had asked the question, while Barbarossa of the Skypiercing White Tower answered, having recently studied the arcane knowledge obtained from the Knowers and examined the essence of Extraordinary powers. "They've already been infected early on," the wise mage said flatly, looking up, "and the virus appears as a manifested epidemic form."

"In other worlds, we must be careful. At the very least, we cannot let the explorers who have discovered the Ultimate Virus to return to base… it's heartless, but they are a severe threat who must be observed carefully."

The Legends of Mycroft would never have abandoned their own, a fine virtue that Igor, Joshua and the others had brought about—not even the cold-blooded Murloc High Priest and the rational Barbarossa would have simply given up.

In return, the Nature's Magister nodded. "I will dispatch some clones to the infected zones and study its essence. The threat can be handled if some vaccine or special potion can be created."

***

Both the Nature's Magister and Godard the Murloc High Priest were the two Legends who specialized in the discipline of life, and aside from those two, perhaps only a mage like Barnil who controlled microscopic runes and create elementals could discern the virus' inner constitution. Furthermore, Godard was more learned in evolution, hybridization, and modification to create things that did not exist in natural ecosystems, such as fish with champagne-tasting blood, lactating trees, and canes or so forth—he may have been well-versed in creating new viruses, but would have been lacking when dissecting and examining it in detail.

On the other hand, the scope of the Nature's Magister includes everything natural and though unusual, the Ultimate Virus was not beyond it.

"Everyone, do you not find that the circumstances are unexpectedly similar to the awakening of the Evil God of Death?"

Just as the Legends established their ensuing tasks, ready to send clones or projections to various galaxies to assist local adventurers and do all they could to obtain information about the Extreme Virus, Nostradamus, who had been silent throughout, suggested a theory. "The entire galaxy had been left in unrest by the Evil God of Death, manifesting as civilizations' self-decimation. It had appeared out of nowhere at the time as well, but affected every one just the same…like this epidemic!"

"Could it be that the epidemic is the Chaos information disturbance brought forth by some powerful Evil God? And that the formless virus is actually one of its spawns?"

Not Pestilence, but the ambush of Chaos spawns?

The idea itself was not surreal, even surprisingly logical. Hence, everyone looked at each other, their relaxed mood diminishing as an earnest threat appeared in their minds.

"The power of the Evil God of Pestilence?"

Igor, who was present with his true form stroke the handle of his chair. His expression was thoughtful, but he soon shook his head. "No, the Church has always been guarding the Sealed Lands of Pestilence. Perhaps it may have really developed the Ultimate Virus, but its power…"

Recalling that the Evil God of Death's very breath had caused the Lost Galaxy to tremble even before awakening, and crosschecking it with the epidemic that had rampaged across a dozen known galaxies and unfathomable lengths, Igor thought it to be a little unacceptable.

"It isn't so powerful. Truth be told and from what I now know, Pestilence's power would not even win against the combined power of everyone here. Indeed, myself…and Aydril could suppress it firmly."

Those words were humble. The old pontiff had wanted to say that he alone was enough, but after thinking that it was just a theory, he added another Legend's name.

After all, they have not fought—he should show some respect verbally beforehand.